Bang-on: The B&O Beoplay A9

The Bang and Olufsen (B&O) Beoplay A9 is an self enclosed streaming music hi-fi system that crosses that line between art and electronics. So what is it and what does it do? Basically, it is a self enclosed speaker array system, amplifiers, sound preprocessing unit and network node all in one. I am one of these people that does indeed appreciate good sound quality and had quite a few expensive audio components hooked-up in the living room: amplifiers, speakers, preamplifier, and CD-player. This unit replaced all of those things in a nice clean package. The Beoplay A9 would be perfect for people who want good sound quality to fill a larger room or space, but always want form along with the function. This background is important, here… I had found myself hooking up an Airport Express to all this fancy high-end audio equipment just to stream from iTunes, so I figured, ok, time to optimize. My plan is to offset the cost of the B&O by selling my equipment used.

Now just to be clear, this unit is expensive. It’s about USD 2,800 or about CAD3,700. However, I think it’s worth it if you want to up-your-game in sound quality for your streaming music.

The sound quality on the Beoplay A9 is pretty good. The speaker array consists of a subwoofer along with mid and high-range speakers: there are 5 speakers located in this unit. It delivers reasonably good bass, and keeps the sound quality and high audio levels – there is not a lot of distortion. I have never had any problems with Wi-Fi  streaming audio, and I never experienced any blips in the sound or networking problems. After weeks of use, it has been very reliable as an AirPlay receiver on my network. I mainly use it to stream from iTunes, but you can also stream from Spotify and other services. A cool feature of the unit is that there are touch sensitive controls along the top: a left side, right side and sweep sensor area along the top. It is kinda cool to sweep your fingers along the top to raise the volume. There is a mobile app that can be used for setup and monitoring of the Beoplay A9, where you can control things such as the maximum volume, and check the network connection settings, etc. There is also another separate mobile app for hooking the A9 to your phone for streaming, or streams across multiple Beoplay devices in your house. One problem that has been posted on various forums is the clunky setup procedure, it took me a bit to get it setup (the light codes required some interpretation but the language-independent visual instructions kinda fell short)… but, be patient, when it gets setup it works fine every time. Another cool feature of this is that the cover can be customized and changed, and there are even third-party companies that make covers for it.

So, back to the sound for a minute. It’s not fair to compare this unit to high-end audio equipment and dedicated speakers, but I did have the chance to do a side-by-side comparison. What you miss in this unit compared to the most expensive audio components is a bit of richness in the sound and bass. Speakers which are larger and made from wood have a certain smoothness in the bass that are missing from the Beoplay A9, and you’ll never be able to match the power delivered by a dedicated power amplifier: the A9 does delivers 160 W for bass and 2×80 for other speakers, but I was comparing it to a amplifier that had balanced inputs and 2 x 150W outputs. Yeah, it’s not entirely fair. But, that being said, I am really happy… it looks great, sounds great for what it is, and I am certain you’ll be thrilled.

You’ll love to have this around

The bottom line: The Beoplay A9 delivers very good sound with a visual and industrial design that make this a conversation piece in your living room.

 

Not Quite a Fan: Lacie 2big Thunderbolt RAID

The LaCie 2big Thunderbolt RAID drive seems like a perfect choice for Mac users who need fast storage solutions for photos, video and backup. The Lacie hardware features prominently with Apple and both on-line and in most Apple Stores. I recently upgraded my iMac for a brand-new Retina 5K i7 with a 512 GB SSD. Nice. My last iMac lasted nine years and was the last 24-inch White iMac Intel Core2, which was really showing its age. But, I digress. I was looking for a storage solution for music, photos and backup, and I like the idea of a RAID1 configuration, especially with the photo library which has crept up into the 100 GB range. When using external storage, you want something fast fast fast, especially when you just invested quite a bit in a new computer. The Thunderbolt connections are supposed to be the way to do this on your Mac.

So, you may ask, how’s it been so far with this drive? Answer: meh. The pros of this unit are the nice visual design: it’s compact, looks cool and has clean lines. The cons are that the fan is a bit noisy, there is an odd panel in the back that helps hide the cable (but is way too snug for my taste), and I’ve had problems with the drive ejecting on sleep. The eject on sleep issue is somewhat pervasive, as you’ll see from the Lacie posts on the Apple store, and is annoyingly random – I had this problem for a while and then it randomly fixed itself one day after I tested the drive with USB3 and when I switched it back to Thunderbolt all was good. Sigh. The fan noise is particularly stupid. I had a Lacie 2big NAS for a couple years and I felt like I was working in a saw-mill. The fan noise was horrible. I eventually dismantled the whole unit to find that not only was the fan a bit cheap and noisy on its own, but it was not properly mounted and isolated from the chassis (it was actually vibrating against the chassis). Now, the Lacie 2big Thunderbolt is not this bad, but with my whisper quiet Mac and the USD 749 price tag (which is about CAD 999 with tax), why the heck can’t they put an awesome fan in it?!? Like, really.

Fancy but fan noise not fantastic (see what I did there?)

The bottom line: This is that is a “decent unit”, but I wish I considered alternatives like those from OWC. I also feel like Apple ought to put more effort into critiquing and/or picking accessories for the Apple Store: is this really the best unit out there?

The Day My MacBook Died: Now What?

I am a Mac user.

I switched to Mac and OSX in 2006 when I simply could not stand the pain and frustration of using Windows. Being in a work environment at the time that used Linux, I was finally motivated to make the switch. Years later in a new “big job”, our mobile enabled work-force, which just like most other companies uses Windows, left me with a long string of laptops that continued to bring frustration: horrendous battery life, Windows memory leaks and crawling performance, rebooting, crippling corporate security software, and the like. Early last year, after complaining to a co-worker about how my Lenovo X220 had a battery life of, optimistically, 2 hours (if I turned the brightness on the screen to an indiscernible level and did nothing but read a Word document), I learned about how we could get a native MacBook. Thank, god. And I mean “native” in the sense that they wouldn’t just stick a virtual machine on your MacBook, in which case you’d have a nice-looking, crippled, MacBook Air that runs the same Windows software that drove me insane in the first place. This blissful state  of my new computer went on for just over a year. Then, while rolling-out centralized directory and password management on the fleet of Macs, my MacBook was crippled by a configuration error that took IT three rebuilds to fix. In the meantime, I got my hands on an Window 7-enabled HP ProBook.

	HP ProBook 430 G1	MacBook Air 13-inch (mid-2013)
Spec Sheet	http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03848418	https://support.apple.com/kb/SP678?locale=en_US
Comprehensive Review	http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-ProBook-430-G1-Notebook.104999.0.html	Everywhere, you know it’s the best laptop out there
Configuration	Windows 7 Enterprise SP 1 256 GB SSD 4 GB RAM Intel Core i5-4300U 1.9 GHz	Mavericks OS X 10.9.5 256 GB SSD 4 GB RAM Intel Core i5-4250U 1.3 GHz
Wireless Mouse	Could not reliably connect Microsoft Arc mouse to the Windows 7 operating system (it turns out it’s not supported), problems involved intermittent connectivity despite adjusting BLE power management settings; manual workaround needed to connect	Connects on power-up, and awakening from sleep mode; holding the Magic Mouse button for a couple seconds always reconnects
TrackPad	Generally fine for point and click, two finger scroll functions awkward and clunky	Very smooth point and click, seamless scrolling and gestures, unbelievable difference to the ProBook: worlds ahead
Keyboard	Chiclet keyboard, not quite as nice; no backlighting on the keyboard – very annoying on airplanes	Backlit keyboard chiclet keyboard
Construction	3.31 lbs, plastic construction Trackpad keys seem a bit flimsy	2.96 lbs, aluminum construction Keyboard and trackpad well constructed
Dimensions	Thin, but about 33% thicker than MacBook Air on average (2.1cm at thickest point) Barely fits into my Tumi 13-inch laptop sleeve Smaller AC adapter than most prior laptops, but still clunky	Super thin (1.7 cm at thickest point) Fits comfortably in Tumi sleeve Well-designed and compact AC adapter
Display	Smaller than the MacBook Air despite being “13-inch” 1366 x 768 (control panel hung when searching for resolution information) Dull and faded colors and poorer resolution, but screen supposed to be anti-glare Custom fit privacy filter available from 3M	Bigger than HP 430 13-inch display despite being smaller 1440 x 900 resolution Colors and resolution crisp and vibrant Custom fit privacy filter available from 3M
Sleep mode	Closing the top periodically results in a crash, Windows had to restart; need to put into sleep mode to avoid problems – I am amazed this is still actually a real problem with Windows laptops	Close the top: goes into sleep mode, open the top: comes out of sleep mode, every time, very fast
Battery Life	Maybe 5 hours	At least 10 hours, often times would not take AC adapter charging cable into the office for a full day of work
OS Features	Search programs and files awkward, needed to install third-party software (like “Launchy” for equivalent functionality) Very little desktop management applications No ability to have multiple tabs in Window Explorer	Spotlight quick and effective Expose and multi-desktops native Tabs available in Finder
Wireless Networking	Often times did not connect because waiting for “Work, Home, Public” prompt which did not appear right away No easy access to detailed network information “Fix network connection”: really? Occasionally found that wireless network adaptor would need software reset	No connectivity problems, occasionally had trouble pairing with iPhone WiFi personal network Detailed network information available by holding down the “option key”
Microsoft Office	Fully functioning, able to use add-ons for PowerPoint and Excel Able to use Microsoft Project and Visio	Many limitations in Mac version Not able to use Microsoft Project or Visio, some good readers are available and are generally suitable OneNote for Mac works great and better looking than Windows version
Other Applications	Full compatibility SimplyFile add-in for Office is the best e-mail management tool (no macros available in Mac version of Office) Can use Explorer in SharePoint on Safari (not available on Mac when trying to organize SharePoint files)	Able to use PowerPoint with few compatibility issues with Windows Excel compatibility worked well, but cannot use many company tools (e.g., staffing planners, etc) No compatibility issues with company internal web-sites iTunes manages the iPhone well, good pairing for my mobile device iPhoto available for much better management of photos than Windows Symantec Authentication Client works well as needed
Stability	It is normal that Windows Explorer, a fundamental system service, crashes one in a while?	Base operating system always stable
Travel	Adequate; better than prior laptops Fits into Tumi sleeve, but snugly due to extra thickness Power adapter can be stuck into jacket pocket but still bulky, will be an issue in the summer with no overcoat Still worry about keeping it charged; battery life can be up to 6 hours but under load can be much shorter … ever notice how there is an increasingly bigger number of people using MacBook’s in the airport: PCs are not cool.	Best laptop to take on the road Easy to carry, laptop and adapter can be carried in a sleeve with no laptop bag needed Quick to go-into and come out of sleep mode No fear about running out of battery

I kept a comparison log of experiences which I am sharing here below. Now, with both machines in hand, the question is: what now?Migrating Tips for Moving Between Mac and Windows:

• Use ShareFile or Cloud Storage. Keep all your files and folders on cloud drives, which automatically syncs between computers including Windows and Mac.
• Use Outlook folders on Server. Migration to the Outlook server will take a while, but everything will be on the Exchange server and migrates between Mac and Windows.
• Use Google Chrome. You can keep your bookmarks in the cloud and they are automatically synced between your Chrome instances.
• 1Password on DropBox. I moved my 1Password archive to the cloud, and it keeps in sync between my iPhone, Windows and Mac boxes.

Black Friday: A Tool for Making the Most of Your Hard-Earned Money?

Black Friday is a spectacle. The media love the imagery of the frenzied masses scrambling for deals, sacrificing their time and ensuring harsh weather conditions lining-up, trampling each other in a orgy of shopping chaos. The liberally minded folk use it as the basis of deep social commentary on consumerism, the failings and shortcomings of modern Western civilization, and how it has over-shadowing the meaning of Thanksgiving. The economists fixate on it as a key economic indicator, as a measure of the strength of the retail industry and the domestic and global economy. Individual consumers revel in the thrill of victory, sharing stories, strategies, successes and experiences – giving further fodder for the academic criticisms that humanity has devolved into a vapid shell of consumerism, as if talking about shopping wasn’t already orders-of-magnitude more prevalent than engaging discussions on religion, politics or key social issues, already.

So what the hell does this have to do with Real World Reviews, anyway? Fundamentally, my time spent on this blog is about value, not wasting your hard earning money and consumer advocacy. All of the stupidity associated with Black Friday remains true. But, is it all that bad? What’s wrong with getting a good deal anyway? Nothing. Nothing at all. So, I’d thought I’d stimulate some thought on how not to waste your hard-earned money. You won’t find me fighting the crowds, but this doesn’t mean that I am opposed to getting a deal – and neither should you. Don’t feed the frenzy, but selectively exploit it.

There is a natural flow to these ideas, so try to think about them in order:

Don’t buy crappy stuff. This is where the rubber hits the road on my time spent clacking out blog entries. An article in Psychology Today suggested that impulse buying is somewhat driven by an innate desire to save money. But, I would argue this is only effective for stuff that you need, or want after some careful consideration. Do your research ahead of time. You should also spend some time reading about Consumer Behavior. Take advantage of savings on Black Friday: absolutely, just won’t buy stuff you don’t need. Duh.

Be patient. Obvious? Probably, so. Getting a good deal is about being patient. Stalking. Like our primal instincts borne from millennia on the Savannah, squatting in the bush, fixated on our prey, waiting for the right time. Shopping sometimes feels like hunting: a little bit of luck, as with all things, timing and patience. The surest way to get a great deal is to wait. Eventually, the latest thing will fade from the spotlight and you’ll save yourself some money. Ask yourself: “what’s the worst thing that will happen if I don’t buy this right now”. This is a lot easier than it sounds, and it’s particularly hard for me – there is a lot of psychology at play here. Black Friday is your opportunity, but only if you’ve got something specific in your cross-hairs.

Products life-cycle and Generations. Consumer electronics is a classic example where waiting for deals is key. Everyone knows a new generation will inevitably be forthcoming in 2-3 years. There are two strategies in here: the first relates to being patient and not buying the latest model (e.g., TVs are a great example since new LED models offer little improvement), it will eventually go on sale; another is timing to purchase to maximize useful life-cycle (Apple is the best example here: they don’t fire-sale previous generations of equipment, so you want to buy the latest model always or buying a car at the beginning of a model year assuming you don’t pay a premium for that). Clothing also has a life-cycle implication, since you can buy things on sale knowing you’ll eventually need a new sweater next winter, but styles change eventually. This means that, yes, you will eventually see that TV for 50% in about 6 months anyway, whether you lined-up at 4 AM, got four bruises, and stressed yourself out in the process.

Understand supply and demand. Some basic understanding of macro-economic principles can inform decision-making. E.g., seats on an airplane for a flight you need to buy with no flexibility is different from an iPhone 6. Apple will make more iPhone 6 phones, but there are only 127 seats on that plane – being patient is key, but limited supply means that timing is important. I have gotten great deals on flights by jumping on a deal immediately, and I have gotten burned by not being patient and buying too early. Focus your deal hunting on stuff that is in limited supply.

Buy on sale. Yes, another obvious one. But, how many of you out there have bought toilet paper full price? Shaving blades? Basic white under-shirts? Luggage? If you find a good deal on toilet paper, fill your trunk with it. You’ll eventually need it and it won’t expire. Luggage and shoes are other classic examples for me: you will always be able to buy luggage 50% off, just be patient. Shoes? Stalk the pair you want and hunt for deals, if you are older than 17 years old, your feet are unlikely to grow any more. This means don’t be afraid to use Black Friday sales to get stuff you will eventually need.

Don’t be penny foolish and pound-wise. As part of the myriad of media musings on Black Friday, I saw an article that took the opportunity to re-enforce some personal finance principles around fund fees and MERs. It seemed a bit misplaced but the fundamental point is a good one: it’s awesome that you saved $200 on a vacuum cleaner, but you realize you are getting fleeced on those cable TV packages you don’t watch to the tune of $480 per year, right? Or, that your banking fees are also sucking away your hard-earned money?

Travel App Smack-down: TripIt vs TripCase

Wow. I really thought this would be more clear-cut, but reflecting on my comparison points, it’s going to be hard for me to uninstall one of these applications. I have been using both TripIt and TripCase services for several months in parallel. I was an early adopter of TripIt and have been using it for a couple of years now, so I have some endearment for it along with its awesome automated trip management features.

Merging travel plans into a trip. Clearly, only TripIt provides this functionality properly. This is really the “secret sauce” of TripIt and its mandatory for complex and evolving itineraries. Having to merge the individual parts of trips in TripCase is really annoying.

Conflicting plan synchronization. TripIt comes out ahead in this category, and it has the ability to detect duplicate itineraries, flag them and allow you to easily select the right itinerary by showing when the itineraries were received. For those of you who book in advance to get the best prices, or use reward points, you will appreciate the value of this – the likelihood of getting an updated itinerary e-mailed to you (i.e., because the departure time changed by 5 minutes or other such logistical minutia) is pretty high.

Look and feel. Admittedly, this is a bit subjective. I prefer the TripCase interface for its simplicity and high-contrast visual style (e.g., white on black background), and the key information is displayed more clearly on the mobile application. Both mobile applications have a select trip, and swipe left-right for individual legs or parts of your trip. TripCase enables another level of detail for each trip part with “additional information” easily accessible. I also prefer the TripCase website – the TripIt web-site is very overwhelming with additional details and advertisements, which is annoying because as a premium user I would not expect ads to clutter my screen. To be fair. TripCase also does have some extraneous menu options to up-sell you on services but they are appropriately placed and don’t clutter the mobile application flow. How hotels are shown is also better in TripCase, where it shows a more prominent card on your check-in event, and a less obtrusive one for your check-out time, unlike TripIt which treats both as travel events which somewhat clutters the visual presentation of the list.

Service Integration. I am not an Uber user, but TripCase offers this which is really cool. Also, TripCase automatically synchronizes with my Travel Agent who uses Sabre which means updates and bookings are automatically added. This is a real bonus. These two features are probably the most stand-out capabilities for TripCase.

Meta-data. TripIt allows users to add notes and photos, which is immensely useful when you are doing research ahead of your departure. Inevitably, you will find a need for adding data and notes that don’t fit within the existing data elements for your individual trip elements. Adding photos has been a handy feature for me, as I like to add photos of locations, hotels and airlines when planning vacations. TripCase does offer a cool feature where is allows you to view photos of your hotel, automatically fetching them from vfmii.com.

Notifications. Both applications offer flight notifications and both are very timely. I can always count on them arriving at more-or-less the same time. TripIt has a neat user interface feature that flags trips as on-schedule, or experiencing delays, right on the trip summary list.

Value add features. TripIt has integration with Seat tracker, which is really valuable to know where you are sitting and alert if there is a better choice. However, most of that seat selection and research occurs prior to your booking, so I have never really used the Seat tracker integration with TripIt. TripCase does offer seat maps but it never seems to work for the flights I take. TripCase has a much nicer weather forecast integrated into the mobile application, which TripIt only offers on the web-site. Both applications offer maps integration. TripCase automatically adds directions to your itinerary, which I don’t often use, and it would be nice to have this as an option. TripIt offers loyalty points integration for the Premium service user.

TripCase might be a great option for people who rely on a Travel Agency that connects directly to the Sabre booking system (so you can imagine that’s almost every business traveller out there), and changes to parts of the trip for the same reference number get updated automatically. TripIt has much better overall trip management, between merging and reconciling conflicting plans. If you are a business traveller, I recommend going with TripCase and not even bothering to look at TripIt – mainly because you’ll just end-up like me: missing the cool trip management and notes capabilities of TripIt (i.e., if you never used it, you won’t miss it). If you mix both business and leisure, I would go with TripIt – the Sabre integration is nice, but I’ve never felt too burdened by updating itineraries, especially with TripIt’s features for reconciling conflicting plans.

Up-in-the-air: Trips in the Cloud

The bottom-line: I think that TripIt edges out TripCase overall, but for business travellers who use an agency and Sabre (and who have not used TripIt before), just go with TripCase.

A good multi-device charging dock: Hallelujah!

Eventually, I just decided that three phones, a tablet, and all the associated charging accessories was more than I wanted to look at, snaking out from the electrical sockets, across the kitchen counter. I thought to myself: there has to be way to organize this mess. Different phone models, different adapter types, different sizes, different covers or protective cases – a lot of variables, but you would think this was a common enough problem that a product to help would exist. The answer is no, with many seemingly fit-for-purpose products falling woefully short.

And, herein lies the story of mobile devices, journey, innovation and hope. The journey comes from me searching for months and months for a product, where most were either ugly, cheaply built, or not very space efficient. Innovation occurs when creative ideas are needed to solve real-world and practical problems, and this comes in the form of the All-Dock docking station. It’s a KickStarter funded project to solve exactly my multi-device, kitchen cable disaster. Hope comes from the fact that I damn-well hope this makes me happy after waiting months for a product that hits the mark.

The All-Dock unit is a rectangular multi-dock system with an integrated USB charging box, providing a way to connect your charging cables, keeping cable management in the box, and seating your devices. The unit I ordered was the medium size in the black colour. It managed to fit an iPad with a smart-cover, an iPhone 4 and iPhone 6 with protective cases. The  construction was pretty impressive, with a combination of plastic and rubber in black. The top-plate fits snugly into the base and can be lifted-up without excessive force. The form factor is appropriate for my kitchen-counter top, and it uses the space optimally. The width and depth of the slots to seat the devices seems to be just the right size: they are wide enough to accommodate a variety of covers plus allow an appropriate tilt on the devices, not too snug and not too loose. My unit had four (4) charging ports and it shipped with shorter cables and cable ties. This is helpful, except I got mini-USB instead of iPhone 4 cables, which required me to coil-up my longer Apple cables (which I wrapped with the provided table ties), and the cables were able to fit inside comfortably. The holes that the cables pop-through are uniquely designed, with a hole plus a tapered grove that can be used to “hold” the cable adapter. I have not had any problems yet with cables falling back into the box. I have not have any problems with the amount of “slack” needed to pull-up your mobile device to detach the cable, either both because the provided cables seem to be the appropriate length and I sensibly coiled my longer Apple cables. The front of the unit has a notch that would allow you to press the home button while seated, which is useful, except that my iPad, being the largest device and most likely to benefit from this, is seated in the back. The charging worked well, and so far the charging time has met my expectations.

In my research on the available products for this docking application, I had originally thought that having a docking station with a “fixed” adapter port would be better. However, there is just way to many kinds of adapters and devices and the USB charging station plus cable management approach seems to be the best way. There were some products out there that offered different fixed, and modular, adapter components that you can swap out, but none were quite right and future proofing is always an issue. I somewhat feel that cable management is an inevitable reality, so finding smart ways to do it has traditionally been a smart approach.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the All-Dock multi-docking station so far. Admittedly, my impressions might be somewhat flavoured by the emotional journey of searching for a solution for months. If you order the unit, expect that it might take some time to ship – when I ordered mine, there were none in stock and had to be manufacturer. But, it was worth the wait.

Herald the elusive multi-charging station equivalent of the unified theory of everything.

The bottom-line: Definitely fits the bill for a multi-device docking station, so this is the one to get if you have more than one type of device.

My Love-Hate with Aeroplan Continues

I wrote previously on this blog about some frustrations with the Aeroplan program from Air Canada. Now that the travel year is coming to a close, I find myself crossing yet another threshold of elite membership status with Air Canada Altitude program, yet somehow remain frustrated by the reward travel “situation”. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised last week when I was unexpectedly upgraded to business class for my loyalty, which is a very nice gesture (albeit the first time this has ever happened to me in my years of travelling as an elite member).

I did finally book some reward travel successfully, using a combination of spreadsheets, data feeds, advanced analytics, scenario planning, option assessment and systematic and periodic checking of websites and calls to airline reward agents. Oh, and luck. Does this sound familiar to anyone? In the end, I was very pleased by being able to get business class bookings on Japan Airlines via OneWorld and I almost feel like I won the lottery.

However, I was very much struck by the differences in fees when booking my AAdvantage travel rewards compared to Air Canada. This highlights one of my big pet-peeves about Aeroplan bookings. For the same dates in August 2015, here were the reward flight options with fees:

• Air Canada reward travel through Aeroplan from Vancouver, Canada to Narita, Japan (Business Class round-trip) taxes and surcharges: 150,000 miles + $591.41 per ticket ($518 in fuel surcharges)
• Japan Airlines reward travel through AAdvantage from Vancouver, Canada to Narita, Japan (Business Class round-trip) taxes and surcharges: 100,000 miles + $74.97

There have been some good blog entries on mitigating fuel surcharges, which effectively recommend trying to get bookings on a partner airline. The Air Canada and Aeroplan fuel surcharge fiasco is not new, as evidenced from some recent episodes on CBC and articles in the Toronto Star. Most explanations provided are vapid at best, citing increased oil prices and fuel costs. I think the bottom-line is that Air Canada and Aeroplan are separate entities, and somebody negotiated a bad deal between them. This is not a problem that other airlines have, as evidenced from my example above. It really is a joke.

The bottom-line: Air Canada and Aeroplan should be avoided for international travel, or at least set your expectations that your hard earned loyalty results in “cost-deferral” at best.

Congestion at Heathrow: Terminal 5 BA Business Lounge

I have been traveling a lot recently on British Airways and I have very much enjoyed the flights, and in-flight service, in business class. I have flown several times on their new Dreamliner aircraft, both from Toronto and on-ward to Hyderabad – I find it both comfortable and cozy. They have started to become my international airline of choice. Also, I do really enjoy Heathrow Terminal 5, and the Wagamama restaurant there is an oasis for me to get a warm, flavourful and fresh meal. But, I have been avoiding more and more the British Airways Club World lounges in Terminal 5. Now, in all honestly, the British Airways lounges are typically better than average and get pretty decent reviews most of the time. However, I actually prefer to sit at the Wagamama than in the lounge. I find the lounges in the main terminal extremely busy, crowded, and littered with all the leftovers from the hundreds or travellers that must pass through there daily. It just seems like they can’t clean-up as fast as the people who whirl through there. Other reviews on the web have described it as “congested and untidy”, which I think is a very concise and accurate representation of my many visits there. The food and snack options are limited and I have often struggled with the performance of their WiFi service (likely owning to all the people packed in there using it). I also seem to find that many of the Type A or B power plugs (USA-type) do not work in the lounge area, and I often find myself pulling out my German Type F adapter. If you are travelling from the B or C gates in Terminal 5, I highly recommend making your way to the lounge in the B-gates. This tends to be a lot less busy.

A world class lounge… hit by a tornado.

The bottom-line: Yeah, it’s good. But try and make your way to Terminal B or spend some more effort finding a cozy corner.

 

On the Ropes. Yes, the kind you tie stuff with.

This entry was about to turn into a buyer beware entry on the Blueline 1/4″ Utility Braided Rope, but I realized that I just didn’t know as much as I needed to about rope. I always do at least a little bit of research both before a purchase, and after I decide something is worthy of a review. Who knew there was so much to know? Prior to a recent camping trip, I found myself standing in the hardware section in front of a wall of rope. I wanted some additional rope for the tarps that I use to provide an extra layer of protection in the event of a downpour. I tie them to trees around the campsite, good and snug. I ended up with a the braided polypropylene rope: it looked fancy, came in a nice spool, and was rated to about 60 lbs. I learned that Polyester ropes are actually much better for what I was trying to do. Polyester ropes don’t stretch as much as polypropylene, resists elongation better, and has good resistance to moisture problems. Polypropylene is lighter weight and float, and does not resist elongation as much – it is also cheaper. There were a couple of really good comparisons on the Web, including some narrative that provides more chemistry for those in-the-know about the science of materials. There you have it: things you should know.

Pretty to look at. Not for camping.

The bottom-line: If you want to keep your tarps taut, stick with the polyester rope.

Why Aeroplan is Horrible. Or, is it? Gesh I just can’t tell.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually like Air Canada. As a North American commercial airline company and operation, I greatly prefer them to their US counterparts.  However, I really do need to wonder about their Aeroplan rewards program. Having been an Elite or Super Elite member for several years running, and accumulating that status and points with international business-class flights, I gained the benefit of both quickly accumulating status and miles. I used these miles to fund ski vacations for the family (of course, despite often sending people on different flights to the same destination), which has worked out pretty well over the years. Owing to some unfortunate route cancellations for international flights to south Asia for their Star Alliance partners, I lost my status only to now aggressively regain it with a lot of short-haul flights.

My primary complaint is that booking rewards at stated levels is impossible. Rewards charts are bunk for most routes. The only time I ever paid the posted reward miles cost for reward flights was at the Super Elite level (i.e., requiring 100K miles or 100 segments in a year to achieve). This allowed me to get four tickets on any flight with a connection on United – like, totally awesome. When I clicked the little button that said “show me your Super Elite priority rewards”, the world opened up to me like sunshine breaking through the clouds on an otherwise stormy day. Recently, I had been trying to book a single economy class ticket to Japan, one year in advance with complete flexibility, with an Elite 35K status, and the lowest mile route options we almost double the posted reward economy rate. Really? No, really? This is a common complaint. The bottom line is, unless you are at the very highest privilege levels, your travel reward value seems extremely low. The trick is that you need to travel off-season: if I want to go to Japan in February, no problem at all. Oh, wait. Did you want to get on that direct flight? Yeah, no, that’s not available. It is common to have odd routing for reward miles, which I have experienced on American Airlines. But, is it unreasonable to have a few seats available one year in advance even during peak season?

Now, I also suppose this is the reality of our modern oil-based economy, but having to pay the taxes and fuel charges has become an extremely expensive proposition. That trip to Japan I just mentioned: $660 in taxes and fuel surcharges. Wait a minute, I can book that same flight and pay $1162. Even with flights that are shorter, I have often found that the actual cost of a ticket, with points, is about 25-45% of the actual ticket cost. You know, with my Marriott points I literally pay “zero” to redeem them. I have a colleague who has accumulated hundreds of thousands of miles with Elite status, and upon booking a getaway in business class to Italy for him and his wife, he literally gasped out-loud (I was in the office at the time) when he discovered the fuel surcharges and taxes on that ticket were over $1500 per ticket.

Again, these just seem to be the norm for airline rewards programs. I can accept that planning ahead, being flexible and travelling off-season are the best tips for avoiding some of this frustration, but it just seems that the reward-to-loyalty benefit is pretty darn low. Or, is it? What’s the typical loyalty reward benefit for any service? 1%? With this in mind, you might argue it’s not actually that bad. Consider that 25 short-haul return flights costs $13,750 at $550 per flight, allowing you to accumulate 1000 points per round-trip: the 1% benefit of this is only $137.50 even though I accumulated 25,000 points. If I can get a $600 flight for 25,000 points (a flight within the Continental US and Canada), even if I pay $200 in fuel surcharge and taxes, I have a $400 benefit on my cost which is a 3% loyalty bonus. Huh.

The expectation management around this is bad either way, consider this… you have this frustration although you diligently and loyally book the same airline, trip after trip after trip, you go out-of-your way to do that, you push all your AMEX Membership Rewards points over to your airline awards, accumulate 50 segments in 7 months, sit-in-airports, deal with all kinds of travel crap, and spend tens-of-thousands of dollars of flights. This is in addition to the fact that, effectively, I am being somewhat manipulated as a consumer, and my personal travel data in now in their hands, etc. Should I need to have a detailed plan of attack or just restrict myself to highest value uses? I know that navigating rewards is like a science. This is a total can of worms topic, but in the end I think I either need an attitude adjustment with some expectation management, or Aeroplan needs to do something better.

Looking forward to paying for fuel surcharges. Awesome.

The bottom-line: You will be frustrated with your Aeroplan rewards experience, guaranteed, unless you live in the air with this airline; we clearly have a gap in expectations here somewhere.